Some amazing things, that I’ve known for quite some time, have landed on me in a fresh way recently about the Bible.  The crux of the point is asking yourself this simple question,
“How do you read the Bible?”
OR
“What do you see the Bible as?”

A rule book?
A guide book?
A roadmap for life?

If so, then you will read it that way.  You will look for rules to follow, advice to consider, principles to live by, roads to turn and take … and that’s it.

But, is this how we are to read the Bible?  Is this what we are to look for when we read?  (rules and roads?)

OR, perhaps there is another way to read it … something else or (someone else) we are to look for.

I think this is a helpful question:
Do you read the Bible as the only way to most clearly see Christ and His glory?

Why would that matter?

If we look for Him instead of rules, guides, and advice, then HE is Who we see.  We should strive to see Christ on every page.  If we look for Him on every page, He will make Himself lovely to us.  When we see Christ’s beauty on every page, we treasure Him on every page.  Our heart will grow toward Him, our affections are stirred for Him (not rules guidelines or principles).  There are far too many people who don’t understand this.  They are religious, they love rules, they look moral, they do good things and they don’t love Jesus.  Matthew 23 should scare them.  The worst thing here, is many do not realize it.  Again, ask yourself, these two questions,
“How do you read the Bible?”
OR
“What do you see the Bible as?”

We must read the Bible, (every page, even the OT) to see Christ as the hero of the entire meta-narrative.

THE BEST thing about this is this:
When we read the Word to see Jesus, we will naturally keep His principles, rules, etc… No one needs to tell you how to act towards someone that you really love, you intuitively know this.

This is so important.  People usually try to do the reverse.  Meaning, they try to follow the rules, then they try to love Jesus.  BUT, being a Christian means, to love Jesus, which causes you to naturally obey Him.

Knowing how to obey becomes written on your heart.
No one had to tell me when I got married that I wasn’t supposed to commit adultery on my wife.  I knew this intuitively and DID NOT WANT TO, because I love her.
The same is true with Jesus; if you truly love Him, no one should tell you how to be faithful to Him, you want to be faithful to Him because you love Him.

So don’t read the Bible as a big application book, but read it as a way to see Jesus, fall in love with Jesus, treasure Jesus, prize Jesus, and cherish Jesus.  Read the pages to keep seeing more things about Jesus that will inflame your heart to fall in love with Him more.  Read the Bible to keep seeing Him as the hero of the entire book on every page.  Read the Word to see His glory.  When you truly SEE glory, no one needs to tell you how to apply that to your life.